Scripture: James 4 v 3: "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts."
John 14 v 13 - Jesus said: "And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son."
Prayer is the heartbeat of our relationship with our Heavenly Father. Our prayers are conveyed to Him by the Holy Spirit and the answers come the same way. So our prayers go forth in Jesus' name and must be in accordance with His will and nature.
Sometimes we miss the mark by praying "soulish prayers". These prayers are based on OUR will for people, situations, results of elections, or ourselves. We neglect to determine God's will before we pray and most often need to cancel this prayer before it becomes an instrument of harm.
An example of a soulish prayer would be if we know a Christian who is being disobedient to God and we pray for an illness to come on that person to teach a lesson! There have been many healings when such soulish prayers are retracted and repented. Repent means changing your mind about doing such things. Attitude adjustment.
There is also a need to pray for "crop failure" for ourselves as we may have sown many negative seeds at depressed or self-destructive times in our lives. How many times have we wished we were dead and an abundant crop of death has grown. Our enemy is only too delighted to encourage this negativity.
It may not result in physical death yet but it affects our lives by breathing death on our relationships, finances, careers, children, health, lifestyles. The desire for death grows with each failure. Jesus says in John 10 v 10 that the enemy came to destroy but He came to give abundant life. So don't keep blaming God! Realise that Satan is our personal enemy who delights to see us fall, who tempts us to sin, traps us in compromise and accuses us before the Throne of God.
Abundant means full; more than enough; flourishing. Jesus wants every good thing for us. He died so we could live. So we need to pray that He would destroy our backlog of negative prayers that are a hindrance to this abundance.
Soulish prayers also consist with agreeing with the wrong opinions of worldly experts. Even doctors who only rely on carnal knowledge, no matter how sophisticated, when they diagnose ailments. They have no knowledge or understanding of the spiritual realm.
The woman with the issue of blood had spent every penny she had on physicians for many years. In a single moment she was completely loosed of her infirmity when she put faith in Jesus and just touched the hem of His garment. When Jesus said, Who touched Me, I feel virtue has gone out from Me? He knew that He had been touched by faith. Her faith brought healing.
I can testify of an amazing afternoon I spent with a poor African lady who offered to do my ironing for a financial reward. She was from another town and worked for a family that brought her with them on holiday. She told me she suffered from high blood pressure. I offered to pray and she agreed. As I put my hands on her head it felt like a lightning bolt had gone through her. She was gasping but her never-ending headache was gone!
A few minutes later her daughter back home 150kms away, phoned her jabbering with awe and excitement to say Jesus Himself was standing in their home talking to them! The poor lady had no words, just tears in her eyes. When she was ready to leave she asked me to pray for her son and daughter-in-law who were dying of HIV/AIDS. They were bed-ridden, living in another house near hers. I asked her their names and as she told me I felt "virtue go out from me". It's the only time I ever felt it but I knew those two were completely healed. She phoned me when she got home and confirmed it. Totally, instantly healed and back at work picking fruit. Truly the Lord had business with Annie that day and I was privileged to be there to see it happen.
Jesus holds the keys to hell and death which means that He has the final decision to make on who goes where and when. He should have a say in every decision of our lives too. Where we live, work and play should be subject to His will and authority. When it is we receive answers to our prayers that bless us even if the answer is NO.
Soulish prayers put restraints on God's dealing with us. We put out fleeces like Gideon. God if you make it rain I will know you want me to get divorced. There is no way God gets any glory out of choices like that. You cannot play spin the bottle concerning deep issues in your life.
Soulish prayers commonly have selfish intent "that you may spend it on your own lusts". So be careful what you pray concerning yourself. These selfish prayers become a barrier to true prayer as when they go unanswered you begin to believe God does not answer prayer.
So to know your prayers are heard and answered first determine God's will for that person or situation before you pray about it. God may show you a vision or give you a verse of scripture or speak into your heart to show you what you need to pray. It will be heard and the answer will come.
Prayer: Heavenly Father You delight to give us good things and perfect answers to our prayers. Help us to think and ask before we pray so that Your will can be done on this Earth as it is in Heaven. In Jesus' name. Amen.
